


A Little Kindness in Uncertain Times

by allmilhouse



Category: The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-02 13:56:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15797913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmilhouse/pseuds/allmilhouse
Summary: Leyden comes back to his hotel and finds Peters waiting for him.





	A Little Kindness in Uncertain Times

“We simply must stop meeting like this,” Leyden said, to the seemingly empty dark room. He paused after crossing the threshold, waiting for an answer. It was a hunch- maybe the man had left already, snuck away in the dead of the night. But his gut told him that he wasn’t alone.

“What gave me away?” came the reply from the dark. That familiar voice that had followed him across Europe had once again turned up in his lush hotel room.

He smiled, happy to be proven right. “Your cigarette is burning slightly in the ashtray. I didn’t leave one when I was here earlier, and even if I did, it wouldn’t still be lit. Ergo, someone was in the room.” He flicked on the light, illuminating the whole room, causing his uninvited guest to blink.

Peters was sitting in a chair, a small, cryptic smile on his face, looking quite relaxed despite having been caught trespassing. Almost as if he had been waiting for this moment. The room was mostly intact, except for the desk which was now a mess of papers and books flung open. Leyden tutted softly.

“Look at the mess you’ve made of my things!” he protested, walking over to straighten things up.

“Ah, I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,” Peters warned, removing a small gun from his jacket pocket.

Leyden stopped in his tracks but shook his head. “You didn’t come here to threaten me.” He glanced towards the ransacked desk again, the whole picture becoming clear. “You need information- information you suspect I have. You need me alive.”

“I would prefer you alive,” Peters admitted. “It would make things easier for the both of us.”

Leyden waited for Peters to continue but the man didn’t elaborate. He knew a bit about Peters by now, as they kept running into one another. Well, Peters kept following Leyden and making contact here and there. He also seemed to be following Dimitiros’ path, but Leyden didn’t know to what purpose. With a character like that at the heart of the trail, Peters could have any number of motives for wanting to know more about the case. Leyden didn’t quite trust the man yet, but there was something about him he was beginning to relax around. A presence maybe, that conveyed that even if he was mysterious, Peters wasn’t dangerous.

“What do you mean, the both of us?” Leyden finally asked.

“I’m proposing an alliance,” Peters announced. “You have some more recent revelations, according to your notes from the Turkish police on the desk there. I can fill in some of the historical gaps. Between the two of us, with a little effort, we could piece together nearly every moment of Makropoulos’ wretched life, including how it ended.”

“And why might you be so interested?” Leyden asked, suspicious.

“In Dimitrios?” Peters barked out a laugh. “I could ask you the very same question. But I don’t believe in putting our cards on the table before we’ve come to an official agreement.”

Leyden nodded, taking a step forward. Peters’ hand was back in his pocket, reaching for his gun. Leyden sighed, running a hand through his greying hair. This trip was aging him more than he’d thought.

“How can I be expected to trust you when you keep attempting to pull a gun on me?”

“How can I be sure you’re not going to call the police on me?” Peters countered. His eyes looked tired, like he was growing weary of having to be on his guard constantly. Leyden felt a brief surge of pity for him. Peters had talked often about wanting to see more kindness in the world, and though it would be nicer if he started it himself, Leyden decided to chance it.

“You’ve been following me from country to country, initially hiding this fact from me. But you’ve made contact enough that I know you were following me, for some mysterious reason. And I haven’t gone to the police yet. So why would I start now?” Leyden laid it out so logically that Peters looked thoughtful for a moment, considering the validity of the argument.

“You have a point,” he conceded, “but raise another question. Why would a man permit himself to be stalked like that without inquiring why or putting a stop to it?”

Leyden hesitated. “Well, I can think of two reasons why a man might wait before taking action.”

“And they are?”

He swallowed before speaking. “The first being he’s curious as to how it will play out, maybe not knowing the motives behind everything. He doesn’t want the police to intervene and break up the situation before a satisfying conclusion.”

Peters smiled. “Spoken like a true mystery writer. You need to solve the puzzle yourself. And the second reason?”

“Perhaps there’s something about the intruder that’s disarming. Maybe even alluring. And the man finds he can’t fully mistrust his stalker. Hypothetically, of course.” He added the last part to diffuse the tension. Peters hadn’t reacted to his confession, and the air hung heavy in the room, waiting for someone to acknowledge what had been said.

But Peters had never been in any hurry to enlighten Leyden, and why should he start now. Leyden waited another moment, but his uninvited guest sat as frozen as a statue.

Leyden tutted again, before turning away. “Well, if you don’t have anything to add, I’m going to bed. It’s late, and my mind is frazzled.” He undid his tie as he approached the bed, and slung his jacket over the back of the nearby desk chair. He began to undress casually, since turning his back on a man with a gun pointed at him had been his least risky choice of the past five minutes.

Cuff links on the bedside table, he started unbuttoning his shirt when Peters finally caught up to him. Metaphorically, as the large man was still sitting in the chair.

“That seems like an unsatisfying answer,” he declared.

Leyden turned back and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not known for disappointing my audience.”

Peters frowned thoughtfully, his face still enigmatically unreadable.

“You know, you are the one who broke into my room,” Leyden continued, sitting down on the bed to untie his shoes. “You’d have to admit, that does have certain connotations among certain circles.” He leaned on his side to reach a pack of cigarettes from the nightstand, and absent-mindedly patted his sides for a lighter, forgetting he was now shirtless.

Peters was on his feet in a minute, surprisingly fast for a man of his size, with a matchbook in his hand. He struck one and held it out invitingly. Leyden leaned forward to light the cigarette, and nodded his gratitude.

“Thank you for you assistance,” he said, still laying on the bed, looking up at Peters with faint amusement. They stared at each other for a moment, until the match burned down to the end and Peters blew it out.

“I can be of more assistance to you,” Peters reminded him.

Leyden considered his words. Maybe it was time to take a chance on more kindness in the world. A friendly hand was being offered here- and perhaps more.

“Alright, Mr Peters. You have a deal.” Peters eyes shifted excitedly to the papers on the desk. “But no work tonight. I am too tired.”

Peters’ shoulders slumped. “Very well. I shall call upon you tomorrow.” He turned to leave but Leyden reached out to stop him, taking him by the wrist. “It’s late. Maybe you should stay the night. It must be a far walk back to your room.”

Peters gave that small, cryptic smile again. “Thank you,” he said, sitting down on the bed. They were still holding hands. He looked down at their linked fingers. "You're an interesting man, Mr Leyden."

"Speak for yourself," he replied, leaning in for a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Ughhh there’s was going to be a lot more to this but I couldn’t word it right. There’s just, so much interesting body language going on in this movie


End file.
